Zāģeri Devil’s Stone

Description

The Zāģeri Devil’s Stone – gneiss with coarse, white calcite grains – lies in the bottom of the Amula River right bank side ravine. A small brook flows along the ravine. The reddish and ridged stone has steep edges and is covered with green moss, its feet is washed by the brook. The length of the stone is 5.0 m, width 3.0 m, hight 3.0 m, circumference around 15 m, volume around 30 m3. The top surface of the stone features a carved cross with a bore-hole in the centre. The hight of the branches of the cross is 0.4 m. This might have been an ancient boundary mark because the ravine where the stone lies is the former border between parishes, most likely also a border between real estates. Nearby, in a straight line across the Amula River, there is another sacred stone – Mazskudras Devil’s Heel. It seems that the Zāģeri Devil’s Stone and Mazskudras Devil’s Heel are linked with mythological tales about the Devil’s efforts to make the Imula and Amula River merge. Over recent years the Zāģeri Devil’s Stone has been involved in the activities of the Holy Grail Cup seekers.

Narrative

In the Innīši Valley where the Imula and Amula River run the closest to each other the Devil wanted to merge the rivers, however, a rooster crowed and thus interfered. The Devil when fleeing spilled sand which remained between the two rivers. The Devil’s footprint is still visible on the stones in the Zāģeri Valley. (Latvian Folklore Repository 1835, 3747)

Location

Koordinātas: 57.00333, 22.65333

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Comments

The Zāģeri Devil’s Stone is very generally described in the otherwise rich information stands of Kandava Town; there are no precise signs or directions for finding the stone and it is hard to locate the stone if the person does not know the place. There is a little-used hunter road in the wood leading to the Zāģeri estate; on the day of the visit a big tree had fallen across the road and a long distance had to be walked to the stone. The surroundings of the stone, i.e., the bottom of the ravine, have been favoured by wild boars enjoying the mud baths there and having trodden many paths. In the overgrown meadows around the Zāģeri homestead many hunting towers have been built.

Photo, video

Archive of the “Cult Identity” project